Tales of Solai, the Lost Plane
by Hx2
Summary: The Seal has been broken, and our once unmagical world is now vulnerable to threats from throughout the multiverse! Follow Willy Gorn and his friends on their journey through college as they help to defend Earth from extraplanar invaders.
1. REAL MAGIC? The Shock of a Lifetime!

Dear Journal/Diary/word processor on a computer in the school library,

I have all these thoughts in my head. Thoughts that nobody hears. So much is happening, but it sometimes feels like nothing's happening. I sometimes feel kind of numb. I'm bored, although there are still times in which I'm enthusiastic and things that spark my interest and creativity. But a lot of the time, I don't have enough intellectual stimulation. I need people I can bounce ideas off of and talk about complex and fascinating topics with. My life keeps becoming so routine, and I sometimes struggle to keep my mind sufficiently active surrounded by all of the confusion and inaccuracies and simplifications. I'm thinking all the time, but it's hard to always think alone.

I still can't believe I've graduated. I feel like my whole life has been in Eagland High. Now I'm leaving to go to Wexler University of Ohio, which is several hours away. I never would have imagined my life like this in a million years. The fact that I can actually go to WU is almost a surprise to me. So much has changed, hasn't it? I usually don't think about it all that much, but as I write this journal entry on a computer in the school library, I can't help but look around at the building around me in both appreciation, gratitude and relief, and maybe a bit of resentment. It's just a building, so why do I feel all this? As horrible as it would be if it ceased to exist at some point in the future, if it did, would it really affect me? I am probably never coming back here again, and even without the building the memories and experiences would still remain relatively intact. Wait a minute, am I attached to this place? Yes, I am, but I'm also detached. I've been here so long I've gotten tired of it. Tired of the same walls, the same faces, the same life. I suppose it's time to move on. Except that's not entirely accurate. I've already been moving on, gradually over the course of the past three years. I've felt like I've graduated every year since eleventh grade, and each graduation built off of the last. I'm rambling and I don't have time to write anymore. It's already half-past three.

Willy saved the journal entry to his flash drive and ejected it. His flashdrive went to his pocket with his deck of Magic: the Gathering cards, and he put his backpack on, and left.

**Chapter I**

The professor pointed at the blackboard.

"The tombstone speaks of a hidden, inaccessible phantom plane known as Solai. It is a plane where mana is quite scarce, and lands will not share it."

"So it is a plane without magic because none of the lands there can be tapped? If mana is that scarce, then there can't be anything alive in any sense of the word alive there, not even the deadest construct. The lands could not survive in a stagnant plane like that. I shudder to think of what could have happened to make them like that."

"That is the most commonly accepted theory—at least amongst those who actually believe in the plane's existence. However, the tombstone was only discovered on Zendikar relatively recently.

"But why are you telling us about this phantom plane? You're not actually planning to send us there for a school trip?"

"No. However, a human planeswalker, one of our new professors known as Angelix Starr recently broke the seal on the plane and plans to go there tonight. It's nice to be up to date with current events, isn't it?"

The students glanced at each other dubiously.

"If you say so, Professor."

* * *

Angelix stared at the site of the evening-time city before her, with all of its flashing lights and strangely dressed people and tall skyscrapers and strange vehicles that were in a way so typical of technologically advanced cities but also so radically different from anything she had ever seen before. It couldn't possibly be real! There was no magic in it. No mana and no soul. All of this vibrant life before her was fake! So how was it appearing? Either way, she was going to get to the bottom of this. The only explanation had to be that someone had done something to this plane and was playing with it, warping it into a dream or an illusion while the real one suffered and stagnated. She needed to find the perpetrator and destroy whoever or whatever it was.

"Mom, who is that strange woman?" said one young girl who looked to be about seven years old.

"I don't know," said her mother, looking like she wanted to be anywhere but standing on this curb next to the strangely dressed woman.

"She looks kind of pretty," said the girl. The woman, who happened to be Angelix, smiled in spite of herself.

"In an over the top, geeky anime-convention-style way," the girl finished. "Does she really think any guys are going to want her dressed like that?"

"Jessica! Apologize!"

"Why should I? I was just being honest!"

"I am so sorry," said Jessica's mother uncomfortably. "She doesn't normally act like this."

"That's okay," Angelix said quickly, her eye twitching."

As soon as the light changed the girl and her mother hurried away across the street from Angelix, and Angelix decided to turn back and take a different path.

At one point about an hour later she was in a dark woody area with what looked like houses lining the street. She then realized she wasn't getting any closer to finding who was behind this mess of a plane. She also realized (to her distaste) that it would be a good idea to capture one of these strange human-imitations to find out more about what was going on here. She picked one at random and began to follow it, hoping she could find a way to get it alone somewhere where she wouldn't be seen capturing it and find out how it worked.

One of Willy's best friends, Arthur was holding a graduation party at his house that night, and Willy was told to bring his magic cards. As he walked along the sidewalk singing an improvised tune, he thought he heard something. His footsteps weren't that loud, we're they?

He stopped and turned around, but nobody was there. Willy knew he was probably being paranoid. The party wasn't that far from the bus stop.

He turned back around and continued walking, and shortly after Angelix crawled out of the bushes in one of the yards, and continued following Willy at a distance.

Willy finally stepped up to the front door of Arthur's house and rang the doorbell.

Arthur opened the door to greet Willy, pushing his long black bangs away from his glasses, as he did so.

Willy, who at nineteen years old was already losing hair, glanced at the movement through his own glasses in mild jealousy.

"Hey Willy, did you bring your cards?"

"Yep," said Willy, grabbing his deck from his pocket.

"What kind of deck are you using?" Arthur asked.

"Isochron Scepter Control," said Willy as they went inside and the door shut behind them.

Angelix knew something fishy was going on. Isochron Scepter was a magical artifact! How could anything like that exist on a plane without magic? These people must have something to do with the abominable state of this plane. She had sensed not a bit of mana in them, which meant they were just mindless drones. Someone else must have been pulling the strings.

Angelix resisted the urge to cast a wrath of God right then and there. There were probably more of these drones elsewhere in the plane, and if she killed all the ones who were here, she would be unable to learn their secrets. She wasn't even sure if Wrath of God would do anything to them, since they probably weren't creatures anyway.

She hid in a bush and stared in through the window.

There was one long table with people sitting on ether side, and on the table there were cards. Depicted on those cards were spells! There were creatures too! Maybe they were trapped inside the cards.

Without stopping to think about the consequences, she cast a lightning bolt on the window and jumped inside. Several of the "drones" screamed.

"Okay, take me to your master!"

Willy almost fainted. Arthur actually did. One of Willy's other best friends, Kai was shocked too, and then said, "What is this!? An alien invasion?"

"Take me to your master!" Angelix repeated.

"Uh...w-what do you mean by master?" Willy asked shakily. "Unless you're talking about our parents, we don't have any.

Arthur started stirring.

"What's all this commotion?" someone asked. It was Arthur's mother, who as soon as she entered the room said, "I'm calling the cops," and proceeded to flee to the kitchen. She didn't get very far though. Angelix cast another lightning bolt and Arthur's mother fell to the ground, dead.

Arthur, who had just woken up again, blinked, struggling to comprehend what just happened. He didn't get along that well with his mother, but he definitely did not want her dead.

Like everyone else, Willy was frightened. His mind was frantic as he glanced around the room, trying to figure out what he could do, but no matter which way he looked, nothing came to mind. She had killed someone by casting lightning from her fingertips! That just couldn't be possible!

"If you don't start taking me to your master in ten seconds, I will burn you down one by one until you do," said Angelix. "Not that you would care, but I'm sure whoever's pulling the strings wouldn't take lightly to my destroying their property."

"Property? What are you talking about? No one owns me!" said one of the party goers, Cory.

"Be silent, you cannot fool me!" said Angelix. "Ten."

Suddenly a voice echoed through Willy's head.

_**This plane is in danger. Follow my instructions if you want to live.**_

"Nine."

_Who are you?_

_**Not yet. You must channel your thoughts and your willpower into a land. Make it cast a spell for you.**_

"Eight,"

_Spell? What do you mean? How?_

"Seven."

_**Just focus!**_

Suddenly Willy was struck by a sudden inspiration. He saw a Mental Misstep card that one of his friends had played in a game and realized what the voice might be talking about.

He had been on the mainland of the United States all of his life so had never been to an actual island. He wasn't sure, but he had a hunch that what he was about to do might work. He had worked as a volunteer at the CSC, a science museum near his hometown for two summers in high school. There was a creek that went all the way around it and a few other buildings too. Maybe...

"1!" Right as Angelix began casting another lightning bolt, Willy quickly held up the card, which flashed as he said. "Mental Misstep!"

The crackle of electricity which had been forming in Angelix's fingers disappeared as if it had never been there, and everyone stared at Willy, including himself.

Suddenly a deck of cards appeared in Angelix's hands. She was confused and frightened of this unfamiliar plane, and in her fear, she ran. What was going on? She had sensed no mana in any of these fakers. They were just imitations of life, drones that did a real being's bidding. So how had that one been able to use magic? Its aura had flared into existence for but a moment, but it was enough for her to notice plainly.

Meanwhile, the party-goers resolved not to contact the police. Nobody would believe them, and people would think they were lunatics if they ever told anyone.

"So how was the party?" asked his sister Elisa when Willy got back home. He ignored her and went to his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Willy almost broke down in uncontrollable sobbing, but restrained himself. Everything he knew and believed in had just been shaken to its foundation, and nobody would ever know. Nobody could know what happened that night.

_**They will know unless you do something about it.**_

_What? That voice again! Wha-what are you?_

_**The memories and wisdom of an ancient planeswalker, imprinted on a multitude of enchantments that were cast over this plane, eons ago.**_

_I don't understand. So then magic...is real?_

Willy tried to keep his mind from bursting with this information. Then again, his mind probably already had burst if he was hearing voices and seeing magic.

_**You're not crazy, and yes, magic is real. However, it did not exist on this plane until that foolish planeswalker you met tonight broke the seal that keeps our plane protected from invaders. She also removed some of my memory enchantments. However, some of the security enchantments that remain I do not necessarily understand or recognize because of the loss of some of my memory enchantments. However, some of the security enchantments might explain how that planeswalker's spells all turned into cards. Why this happened and what this will accomplish, I do not know. In any case, this needs to be kept quiet or there will be mass panic. If your friend's mother doesn't show up for her work tomorrow people will start asking questions, and either they'll discover the truth about magic, or they'll blame your friend. You need to fix this before morning. Do you have a card in your collection that can bring back the dead?**_

_Bring back the dead!?_

Willy thought for a moment and searched trough his cards until he found what he was looking for.

_Proclamation of Rebirth. But how am I going to get to Arthur's house to cast it on his mom? There isn't any public transportation at this hour!_

_**Have you forgotten already? On this plane, you don't cast the spells directly, you make the lands cast them for you. If you keep focused on the target of the spell and the destination the spell is going to, the spell should be able to reach its intended recipient within a distance that depends on your ability. I will lend you some of my power to help you sway the lands to your aid.**_

A few minutes later and few miles away, Arthur saw his mother come back to life right before his eyes.

* * *

Author's note:

So I need decklists. All of the decklist submissions need to be at least decent decklists and all of them need to come with an explanation of how they work. NO EXCEPTIONS.

I will say before a chapter whether I will need decklists and what level of decklist I'll need, so please don't swamp me with all your favorite decks all at once.

The Main character of this story, Willy Gorn is a Blue-White-Red mage using a modern format Isochron scepter control deck.

He is also quite flawed, and I just gave him quite a bit of emotional baggage in the first chapter.

For Chapter II I need ideas of a decklist for Willy's most likely future love interest. I haven't completely decided on whether that character actually is going to be Willy's love interest, or just a close friend. I haven't completely decided on the gender of that character either.

However, I am thinking the love interest's decklist probably does needs to be a control deck of some kind, probably having blue as one of the colors in it. Not saying that there's anything wrong with black, but no black for this decklist unless its splashed.

Oh and no flaming. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't read this story.


	2. His Name is Astral

Author's note: I've changed this story's rating to M due to explicit language. Just in case there are younger readers who disregard this obvious warning, I will try to remember to include content warnings at the beginning of chapters that have graphic content, but I might not always remember. In fact I am very likely to forget sometimes, and I apologize for that in advance. However, it is the readers' responsibility to not read a story inappropriate for them.

That being said, I will most likely not go beyond M rated chapters unless plot bunnies and characterization call for it. In fact, unless you count the language, most chapters will likely be T-rated. So you concerned parents (probably) don't have much to fear.

Also, I decided against introducing a love interest for my main character so early in the story.

This story is going to feature quite a bit of emperor format, and there might be some changes made to make it balanced for tournament play in the story, possibly including minute changes to card text, ie: if it were two headed giant, Serra Ascendant's effect would activate at ten more life than starting life total, not thirty life etc.

I think I've figured out the decklists of the main characters, though their emperor team versions might still need some work.

Now on with the story!

**Chapter II**

"I was unable to use any of my spells after that," Angelix told the headmaster. "The most I could do was planeswalk away."

"I will send one of our students with you to investigate," the headmaster responded.

"Are you sure it's a good idea to be sending a student with me? It's dangerous!"

"It is possible that if we send a mage that's too powerful, whoever is behind the illusions will notice. You need to investigate while maintaining a relatively low profile. If this plane is a threat to us, we need to know. Perhaps you were too hasty in breaking the seal."

"My Apologies, Headmaster," said Angelix. "Who are you sending with me, and when do you wish us to depart?"

"His name is Geovan, and he is one of our top students. You can leave whenever you're ready."

* * *

The place he was in kept changing. Willy couldn't tell if it was a classroom, Eagleland High, or the Creekside Science Center, or numerous other places he had not actually been to in person. It was confusing him, and when a man with a blurry appearance appeared, he stopped paying attention to his surroundings. The man seemed to have some sort of tail, but it was impossible to make out, nor could any of the face other than the eyes be seen. Willy couldn't even tell what clothes he was wearing. The man said nothing but looked at Willy questioningly. Willy turned away, lost in troubling thoughts.

He was a scientist at heart. He was always thinking deeply and questioning things, and he loved learning new information. He had believed for so long that morality was dependent on rationality. When things made more sense, they were more just and more moral. Everything had an explanation, even if that explanation might be forever beyond reach, it still existed. Truth was based in the real physical world, not in the biases and misrepresentations of the imagination. The imagination could help one to discover the truth and also to create new truths by thinking outside the box, but imagination wasn't truth itself.

Now however, that belief had been severely shaken. His reality existed in a multiverse of magic! There was magic in the very foundation of this chaotic yet real and unmagical world. How could this be!?

His whole life, all of his experiences were passing through his mind. Was it all just a lie? Was he just a trick of the light? His father had always said he was delusional...

_**Calm down! Think rationally!**_

_Rationally? Magic exists! Magic fucking exists!_

_**Look, I don't completely understand exactly why this is bothering you so much. Magic wasn't real on this plane until recently. The laws of physics on this plane are still mostly intact. At the moment it will only ever bend its nature slightly, and only for the purpose of defending itself from outside threats. Unfortunately, since you are the one who awakened me and triggered the planar defense mechanism, you are currently the only person who is aware of the danger we are in, and the only one who can protect us from it.**_

_But I don't want to protect it!_

_**What? You'd rather your world die!?**_

_What? No! I'd rather someone else do it! I'm barely able to protect my own sanity right now, how the hell could I protect this plane!_

_**Like it or not, you are the only one who is remotely capable at the moment. You need to find others on this plane who can wield magic. Having allies will make you more capable against enemies.**_

_This is too much to think about right now, I need some time._

Willy woke up feeling refreshed. He was confused now, but that wasn't something to panic over. Okay, in this case it kind of was—NOPE. Everything had an explanation, including this strange turn of events. He would do his best to figure it out. He couldn't let himself worry to death over something that he had so little control over. Little control...NO. Should not think about that. Not helpless, nope.

He got out of bed and picked up his deckcase from his bedside table. All of the cards in it were triple sleeved except for his four Delver of secrets, which were only double sleeved and substituted by the checklist card for double faced cards.

It was June 7th, and he had been using this deck for about a month—four months if he counted the time he spent playtesting it on an online simulator.

He put the deckcase down and headed over to his computer desk. On the desk there was a folder filled with Willy's writing, including many of the essays and poems he had written over the years. He opened the folder.

_**Typical.**_

_Huh? What's typical?_

_**You're a blue-white-red mage, so of course you're going to have experienced some turmoil in your life, turmoil which inspires you to speak out passionately against irrational social injustices—with witty essays and poetry. Blue-white-red mages are rare enough that most normal people only meet a couple of them in their lifetimes if any. For many planeswalkers, however, it is almost cliché.**_

Willy was stunned. He felt that his individuality was being threatened.

_**And now you feel like your individuality is being threatened, don't you! Perfectly typical reaction of blue-white-red! And now you're going to try to prove that you're unique by reading some of those poems to me! Am I right or am I right?**_

Willy opened his mouth and closed it. He suddenly felt irrationally afraid. He hated being irrationally afraid, because it made it difficult to think straight, and he needed to think straight to work through such fear.

_**Don't worry, unless you count alternate realities of the same plane, you're still the only you in the multiverse. You're just not quite as original and unique as you thought. And with such a huge multiverse, being that different from everything else in existence would be almost a godlike feat for most sentient beings. It's somewhat of a different story for blue-white-red mages of course, but only somewhat. In any case, you still want to show me one of those poems? I'm kind of interested to see it.**_

_Sure._

Little Mary Lulu  
Had to go a poo-poo  
During Mathematics in the middle of the day.

The teacher said "No"  
But she really had to go  
So she bolted from the classroom  
Grabbed the hall pass on the way

No longer in the classroom  
No longer in the school  
In an alternate dimension  
Mary Lulu was a fool

In a forest full of pencils  
In a city made of pens  
Where fridges marry freezers  
And wear magnets for a trend

In a world where food eats people and the toilets are alive  
Little Mary Lulu was so baffled that she died.

_**Little Mary Lulu was a planeswalker then.**_

_Yeah, she was, wasn't she? Lol._

_**Lol? They still have such weird abbreviations in this plane?**_

_There were ancient mages lolling eons ago?_

_**Lolling? I haven't heard that one before. And if it means what I'm pretty sure it means, then unfortunately yes.**_

_Laugh out loud._

_**Loads of laughter. Damn, yours is redundant.**_

_By the way, what's your name?_

_**I don't know. I must have lost the memory of it in one of the memory enchantments that foolish planeswalker removed. Names are necessary for the casting of certain kinds of spells, so I need one just in case it ever becomes necessary.**_

_How about I call you Astral?_

_**A very weird name, but kind of catchy. Why that?**_

_It's the name of a character from a Tv show I like to watch. The character is an alien spirit who lives in the King's key, an artifact with mysterious powers. His name is Astral and I would definitely say he would be completely Blue both in magic and appearance. You kind of remind me of him._

_**I have no idea what you're talking about, but I suppose that's as good a name as any for the time being. Astral it is.**_

Author's note: "Little Mary Lulu" is my poem. I have the copyrighted original in print in real life with the date that I wrote it, and another copy on my computer. You have been warned.


	3. The Dragon's Keep

**Chapter III**

"Is this the place?" Willy's other sister, Aria asked that night skeptically. The building they were parked in front of looked old and worn and like it was made of stone. It looked like a miniature medieval fort, hardly what you'd expect a game shop to look like. There was a sign hanging above the entrance that read, "The Dragon's Keep".

"I just remembered that one of my friends told me about this place," she said. "It's a bar."

"Only the basement is," Willy corrected her. "And I'm obviously not going down there. Even if I wasn't underage, I'm deathly afraid of alcohol."

Willy grabbed his backpack and got out of the car, closing the door behind him.

The window of said door opened.

I won't be able to pick you up later so you'll have to take public transportation. Will you be okay?"

"I know, and I'll be fine," Willy reassured her.

"Okay then. Bye."

"Bye!" said Willy, the window of his older sister's car going up before she drove away.

_**Well, here we are. This should be a great opportunity for me to test your skills, and also a way for you to hone them. While you're at it, you're going to have to teach me about how to play this game version of magic battles.**_

_It will also be fun._

Willy walked inside and the bell rang.

The inside looked very homey. It had a wooden floor that went all the way around the circular counter which held display cases for many games, including very prominently Magic: the Gathering. Beyond the wooden floor in the middle of the room the floor was all carpeted, and there were armchairs around tables with lamps hanging overhead.

"Oh, are you here for Modern Friday Night Magic?" asked the shopkeeper, an elderly dark-skinned man with a slightly hoarse voice who stood in the middle of the circular counter at the center of the room. "Signups are over here!"

Willy walked over to the counter and pulled out his deck case from his backpack. The shopkeeper held out his hand.

"Um, shouldn't it be a DCI judge inspecting my deck?" Willy asked, looking around to see if there was one anywhere nearby.

"I am a DCI judge! See?"

He said, jabbing a spot on his shirt.

"Sorry, wait a minute," the shopkeeper then said. "I was getting cold so I forgot."

He startled Willy by pulling off his shirt, only to reveal a DCI jacket underneath with his badge on it.

"See?"

He jabbed his badge, which read:

**Anthony Holmes**

**DCI judge**

"I see," said Willy, handing his deck over for inspection.

"Wow, another one! This deck must be getting popular!"

"What do you mean? I made this deck!"

"Really? Because that's the same thing the first person who came in with that deck said. My grand-niece is also using that exact same deck and she's been here since yesterday night."

Willy was stunned. Those copycats! But then again, he had asked for quite a bit of advice online knowing that someone might copy his decklist off the forum. He just hadn't expected it to happen like this. At the very least they could be honest, instead of claiming that it was their idea. He had worked hard on it!

"Everything seems to be in order. Your first match is at table 3...Aren't you going to take your deck back?

"Oh, sorry," Willy apologized. "I just spaced out."

He took his deck back and sat down at the table he was assigned to on the left side of the room and waited.

"Are you the one with the Isochron Scepter Control deck?" asked an Asian-American boy around the same age as Willy as he sat down across from him. He had a light accent and dark half-shoulder length brown hair.

"Apparently I'm one of three," said Willy.

"There's another one?" the boy asked, sounding annoyed as they both began shuffling their decks.

"Yeah."

They each drew a hand of seven cards.

**Willy-Life: 20**

**Opponent—Life: 20**

"You go first," they said at the same time.

"Um, do you have a d20 I can use?" asked Willy. "My friend was going to give me one, but he forgot."

"I only have one, but you can't use it," said the boy.

"Why not?" Willy asked, his opponent's annoyed tone becoming contagious.

"It's a collector's item that belonged to my brother, that's why!" the boy snapped at him.

"I was just asking!"

"There, I played an island and cast Delver of Secrets. Your move."

Willy gritted his teeth as he drew his next card while his opponent replaced the checklist card with a real Delver of Secrets card in a transparent sleeve. He was already getting worked up. That wasn't good.

_**Ignore him. You're here for me to test your skills. Facing your own deck could be the perfect opportunity.**_

Willy took some deep calming breaths.

"Sorry for snapping at you earlier," his opponent said. "Net-decking is one of my pet peeves. I know you're not used to that deck, and that's okay. Just take your time and think things through. I'm Sosuke by the way."

"Willy."

_**Perfect! Leave it at that.**_

_I didn't say anything else!_

_**You were probably about to. You're getting too worked up. Focus on the game.**_

_Okay._

"Are you going to do anything?" Sosuke asked.

Willy put an island on the field and tapped it, then summoned:

"Delver of Secrets."

Willy replaced the checklist card with his real Delver of Secrets card that was in a transparent sleeve in his deck case as Sosuke flipped the top card of his deck face-up at the start of the next turn.

"Path to Exile," said Sosuke. "Delver of Secrets Transforms."

"I know," said Willy as Sosuke flipped his Delver of Secrets to its other face, "Insectile Aberration".

Sosuke played a plains and tapped his Insectile Aberration.

"Attack."

**Willy: 17**

**Sosuke: 20**

"Your move."

Willy untapped and flipped the top card of his deck face-up. It wasn't an instant. It was another checklist card for Delver of Secrets. Now he had two of them in his hand. He paid two mana to place a Steam Vents on the field without tapping it.

"Your turn."

"I play a Steam Vents paying two mana to keep it untapped. Insectile Aberration attacks. End turn."

**Willy: 12**

**Sosuke: 18**

"I play an Island and tap it to cast another Delver of Secrets," said Willy. "Your move."

"I play an island and attack with Insectile Aberration."

"Thinking…" said Willy. After a pause he said, "I block with both my Delvers."

Sosuke held his hand out to indicate passing his turn.

"Delver of Secrets," said Willy, tapping an island.

"My turn," said Sosuke. "I play a plains and end my turn."

Willy untapped and flipped the top card of his deck due to the effect of his Delver of Secrets. It was a Familiar's Ruse.

_Yes!_

He flipped the card over to Insectile Aberration.

Sosuke tapped a plains.

"Path to Exile."

_Dang it! I forgot!_

Willy put a plains on the field from his deck tapped and shuffled.

Sosuke drew a card.

"Island. Go."

"I play a plains, and then tap it and an island for Isochron Scepter!"

"Remand," said Sosuke, countering the Scepter and sending it back to Willy's hand before drawing a card. Remand went to the grave.

It was Sosuke's turn again. "Island, go."

Willy drew another Isochron Scepter. He tapped two islands and played the one that he already had in hand.

"Okay?" asked Willy.

Sosuke nodded and Willy exiled a Remand from his hand imprinted on the Scepter, then passed the turn. Sosuke passed as well.

Willy knew that he had the advantage at that moment. He already had an Isochron Scepter imprinted with remand on the field, and a Rule of Law in his hand. If he could successfully get it onto the battlefield during his turn, then he was probably going to win.

"Tap two islands and a plains for Rule of Law," said Willy, putting it on the table. Sosuke's eyes widened as Willy smugly said. "I end my turn."

"Your move," said Sosuke, doing nothing his turn after drawing.

"Island and another Isochron Scepter," said Willy.

Sosuke said nothing. There was an awkward pause, and he did not look like he was thinking or looking at his hand; he just stared at the battlefield.

Willy exiled Lightning Helix from his hand.

Anything Sosuke did would be countered and sent back to his hand. He could do nothing but put a Steam Vents on the battlefield tapped and helplessly end his turn. Before the start of his own turn, Willy tapped two of his lands and the Isochron Scepter on the right side of his field to cast a copy of the Lightning Helix imprinted on it. Sosuke could do nothing.

**Willy: 15**

**Sosuke: 15**

Willy drew and passed the turn.

Sosuke played a tapped Steam Vents and passed the turn as Willy cast another copy of Lightning Helix.

Willy: 18

Sosuke: 12

Willy drew and played a Steam Vents and passed the turn.

Sosuke drew and passed the turn, discarding a Rule of Law as Willy cast Lightning Helix again.

**Willy: 21**

**Sosuke: 9**

During Willy's upkeep, Sosuke cast a Lightning Helix. Willy knew he needed to keep a counter open for his opponent's turn, so he didn't do anything.

**Wily: 18**

**Sosuke: 12**

Sosuke stared at his hand and the board with his mouth hanging slightly open. Finally he closed it and scooped up his cards.

"You win," said Sosuke. "Wow, you're pretty good. You must have been practicing with my deck for a while. I'm sorry I underestimated you at first.

"Your deck!?" asked Willy incredulously. "It's MINE. I worked on it for three months!"

"Haha, very funny," said Sosuke.

"I'm not joking. You're the one that copied MY deck off the internet, not the other way around. You can drop the act."

"Okay, now you're taking it too far. Why don't YOU drop the act?"

_**Maybe you both worked on your decks for three months and just happened to make the same one?**_

Astral's words went ignored.

"Hey, what's the commotion over here?" A tall girl with a milk chocolate complexion in a wheelchair asked, seeming to appear out of nowhere.

"Mind your own business," said Sosuke. "Shouldn't you be at a table playing against someone?"

"I already lost my first match, and my next matchup is at this table. I thought I might try watching your game but you guys are just arguing instead of playing."

"There wouldn't be any reason to argue if my opponent wasn't being such an ass," said Sosuke.

"I wasn't being an ass! You were snapping at me from the moment I sat down."

"And for good reason! I did all the hard work on constructing this deck, and you just copy it off the Internet and you won't even be honest about it! I can't stand netdeckers!"

Willy was starting to realize that maybe Astral was right, and it was just a coincidence that they had constructed the same deck.

"If you don't want your deck being copied, you shouldn't be putting it on the internet in the first place," said the girl.

"Nobody asked you," said Sosuke.

"I'm trying to help so that you can get back to your match so I can play sometime before tomorrow!

"I think you're making us take longer," Willy pointed out. The girl rounded on him, seeming to tower over him even though she was in a wheelchair. "No I'm not, you are. If you two would just shut up and play, there wouldn't be any issues."

Willy opened his mouth to retort, but Astral interrupted him.

**It would be best not to say anything at this point. You know she's right.**

Willy and Sosuke shuffled their decks and drew their opening hands.

"I mulligan," said Willy since he did not have any lands in his hand. He shuffled his Isochron scepter, three Rule of Law cards a path to exile a remand and a Snapcaster Mage back into his deck before drawing a hand of six cards instead of seven.

"An Isochron Scepter control deck?" asked the girl, who had seen the cards in Willy's original hand. Cool, that's what I play!"

There was an awkward pause before Sosuke exclaimed, "Not another netdecker!"

"What are you talking about? I made this deck mostly by myself. The only part of it I copied from the Internet was a few of the cards in the sideboard, and I probably would have figured out that I should put those cards there eventually."

"The shopkeeper said there were three of us using this exact same deck," said Willy. "What do you think the chances are that more than three people are playing Isochron Control in the same shop on the same Friday night? A fourth person here that plays Isochron control but doesn't use the exact same deck is already unlikely enough."

"Just play already," the girl said. "I'm Anya, by the way." She pronounced the A in it as if she was saying "Apple".

"Isn't that normally pronounced with an 'Ah' sound?" asked Willy.

"It doesn't matter, that's just the way I say it," Anya replied.

"I play a plains," said Sosuke before passing his turn.

_**Assuming that they can wield magic, I think you might have found your allies.**_

_What makes you say that?_

_**From your interactions and the fact that all three of you are using the same deck. Call it a hunch.**_

_We'll have to find a way to test that later. Do you have a good understanding of the game now?_

_**Yep. Each player starts at 20 life, you play land cards and tap them for mana by turning them sideways to cast spells. There are five main types of lands: Plains, which give White mana; Islands which give Blue mana; Mountains, which give Red mana, Forests, which give Green mana, and Swamps which give Black mana. I already knew that of course. There are also five main types of spells: instant, sorcery, artifact, enchantment, and creature—I already knew that too. The object of the game, of course, is usually to lower your opponent's life total to zero. It's a lot more complicated than that, but that's the basic gist of it.**_

"It's still your turn, Willy," said Sosuke.

"Sorry, I spaced out for a moment there. He drew a card.

"I play a Hallowed Fountain. It comes into play tapped. Your move."

* * *

**I still need to figure out my fictional sanctioned Emperor metagame. If you have any ideas for competitive Emperor teams, please send the decklists for them along with a description of how they work, and general character descriptions if you want.

If you do send in character descriptions, please make them general enough for me to write and develop them. If you make them too specific I won't be able to do much to flesh out their character in the story. No mary sues, no ideal characters. They all must be flawed. If you need ideas, think "At his/her best he/she is_. At his or her worst, he or she is _." Otherwise, don't send me character descriptions. I do need emperor decklists though.

Please try to make these good decklists that work together. Don't give me crappy ideas and say "Well it's just fiction!" That won't cut it. This story features tournament level Emperor. If you have any advice about rules or a banlist, that would be very much appreciated as well.

If you want to help me with matters of Emperor format, I strongly advise you to read this article, but it's not strictly necessary.

(I couldn't include the link, so just type "Emperor Imperatives" on Google and you'll find it. It's on the wizards of the coast website.)

Feedback would also be very much appreciated. What do you think of my main characters so far? Willy? Sosuke? Anya?

Just reminding you no flaming.


	4. Cards and Memories, Angelix Attacks!

Author's note: I'm not that familiar with what it's like to have leg paralysis, so I looked some stuff up on the Internet. I really hope my depiction of the disability is accurate. My reasoning for how Anya can be a good fighter even in a wheelchair is that Anya got lucky in terms of the exact location of the damage to her spinal cord, and that she's resilient. She has her own unique fighting style that depends on her knowledge, reflexes and upper body strength. If anything here having to do with leg paralysis, or any disability is inaccurate or unrealistic, please tell me so I can fix it! Thank you.

* * *

**Chapter IV**

June 20th, 2013

I met some new friends recently. I don't know what to make of them. It's a huge coincidence that they all came up with the same deck as I did. Astral expects us to become BFFs, but I don't think that's going to happen. Sosuke is irritable and Anya is bossy. It's not that I don't like them, but those particular faults are prone to causing conflict—not to mention my sensitivity and the fact that I sometimes talk faster than I think, especially when I'm upset. A close friendship with either of them would probably be too stressful.

I somehow got roped into going to the fireworks at the high school both of my sisters had gone to, Creekside Public High school next month with my sister Elisa and our friend Jen and her parents. Since I'm going off to college this year and probably won't be seeing Jen that much after that, I got convinced to come with them. I really don't like fireworks. They're blinding and deafening. In fact, I might not have agreed to come if there wasn't also going to be a casual magic event being hosted by the school. It's going to be Mental Magic format, so I'm going to bring a lot of my cheap and common cards. I'm going to start building a deck now.

_**So how does Mental Magic work?**_

_Any spell can be played as any other spell with the same mana cost. You can also put a card facedown as a basic land that can give any type of mana. But each spell can only be played once per game._

**_You can only play each spell once? That sounds interesting. In a real magic battle, a mage has to think on his or her feet. This could provide a great opportunity for you._**

Willy sighed. He realized he had putting off this subject for a while, but he had to face the truth.

**_Something on your mind?_**

_I was really hoping to leave this saving the plane business to someone else, but since I've awakened you you've essentially for all intents and purposes been living inside my head. I'm sure it's more complicated than that, of course. Regardless, you need to get your memory enchantments back, and as your host, I'm likely the only person who can help you do that._

_**I understand that it's a lot of pressure to put on anyone, and I'm sorry it has to be this way. I don't know how yet, but if you wish it I might be able to leave and find another host as soon as we've recovered the memory enchantment that allows me the knowledge of how to do so. Whatever enchantment turned that foolish planeswalker's spells into cards might buy us some time, but how much I cannot say. Regardless, you can only do your best, and if you panic you won't be able to concentrate when you most need to.**_

_You're right. Best not to think about it too much._

Willy took a calming breath and began to construct his deck.

* * *

Anya used to be bullied. Ever since her legs had been paralyzed in a car accident in middle school, most people looked and talked to her differently, as if she was a helpless child.

This was true for both those who wished her well and those who wished her harm, and she was pitied and considered an easy target.

When she was in high school she had asked her father about taking self-defense classes. He had outright refused, but she ended up deciding to take them anyway. Her great uncle Anthony supported her and helped her in researching places to take defense classes.

She had found a teacher who had helped her develop a fighting style that she could use. Her name was Ruby Alexander, and she was no-nonsense, and wouldn't cut any slack to anyone. She always made Anya switch to the bench next to the wall and practice propping herself up into a sitting position as fast as possible while everyone else was doing a variety of other more complicated exercises.

**Flashback**

"This isn't fair! I just keep losing!"

Your real life opponents aren't going to be fair," said Ms. Alexander.

Anya sat there, silently fuming.

"You're a smart girl, Anya. You need to play to your strengths."

"Being smart doesn't win a fight. It never has and never will."

"Really? Use your head!"

The teacher threw a kick. All of the students stopped what they were doing and watched in horror as Anya's wheelchair fell over backwards onto the mat, and started screaming verbal abuses at the teacher, who approached the fallen girl.

"Use your head."

And suddenly it all made sense to sense to Anya. There was a reason that all the students were required to wear protective gear all over their bodies. She headbutted Ms. Alexander in the ankles, causing her to trip and fall back to the mat, smirking as Anya tried to take advantage of the time the teacher was down to get back into her wheel chair.

"Good job," she said as all the other students looked on in shock as Anya set her wheelchair back up and used it to try to pull herself up and back into the seat, though she was having difficulty getting herself all the way into the seat from the floor. Ms. Alexander helped her the rest of the way.

"You need to work on your arm strength so you can get back in your wheelchair quicker and easier." she said. "Might I suggest taking up arm wrestling, amongst other things?"

Ms. Alexander went into a back room. She came out with a book and handed it to Anya.

"Your homework. Read this book about human anatomy cover to cover. It will be covered on the written portion of your final exam at the end of the year."

Before Anya had the chance to even thank her, Ms. Alexander then turned to the class and said, "In the future I will not tolerate the disrespect I have been given today. The next time someone calls me a cruel motherfucking biatch they leave and do not come back. Understood?"

"Yes Ms. Alexander," chorused the class.

**End Flashback**

Recently, Anya had noticed something weird when looking at her deck. Whenever she looked at her Steam Vents cards, she would remember the kitchen in the back of the dojo that served snacks to tired students after class, the aroma of which wafted through the ventilation system and distracted everyone. She didn't know why she was reminded of this now, merely by looking at her trading cards.

She put down her deck, wheeled over to her desk, opened her laptop and checked the message board of a role playing game she liked to play, and started having a conversation.

There was a knock on the bedroom door behind her.

"Come in," she said.

Her great-uncle Anthony walked into the room.

"Playing Dungeons and Dragons again? That's a fun game. No one my age ever wants to play it. They don't want to play ANY complicated games, come to think of it...

"Uncle?" Anya pressed.

"Oh sorry, I came up here to tell you that there are leftovers for breakfast in the fridge, and also to ask if you would be so kind as to help me set up Friday Night Magic for tonight?"

"Of course," said Anya. "I'll be down in a bit."

Willy stared towards the door in anger and shock.

"Are you here for Modern Friday Night Magic?" asked the shopkeeper of the Dragon's Keep, Mr. Holmes. "Signups are over here!"

"Yes," said Angelix. "My son Geo and I would like to participate."

Angelix and Geovan held out their decks for inspection.

"Everything seems to be in order. Your first matchup is at—"

"YOU!" Willy shouted before he could stop himself. The woman and her "son" turned to stare at him.

"Mother, do you know him?" asked Geovan.

"No, I can't say I do."

"Liar!" Willy exclaimed.

_**What are you doing, you're going to cause a scene!**_

_**She might already have figured out how to use her cards as actual spells, in which case everyone here is already in danger!**_

"I have no idea who he thinks I am, but I assure you I haven't ever seen that boy before in my life," said Angelix.

"Calm down, Willy!" said Anya, sharply.

"You don't understand! She, she..."

_**Not here! She hasn't cast any spells yet, we still have time.**_

"She what?" asked Sosuke, skeptically.

Willy deflated. "Maybe I'll tell you later."

Anya was Angelix's first matchup. Sosuke was going against Geovan.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Anya" said Anya, holding out her hand to shake.

"Angelica, likewise," said Angelix.

"I play an island," said Anya. "Then tap it to summon Delver of Secrets. Your move."

"I play Sacred Foundry, which comes into play tapped," said Angelix. "Your turn."

Anya untapped and revealed the top card of her deck: Lightning Helix. Delver of Secrets transformed into Insectile Aberration.

"I play a Steam Vents," said Anya, putting it into play tapped. "Now, Insectile Aberration Attacks!"

Anya tapped her creature.

**Anya: 20**

**Angelix: 17**

Angelix untapped and drew.

"Arid Mesa, your move."

"Hallowed fountain," said Anya, putting the land into play tapped, before tapping Insectile Aberration.

"Attack."

**Anya: 20**

**Angelix: 14**

"During your end phase," Angelix started. "I tap Arid Mesa and sacrifice it, paying one life to search for a mountain or plains in my deck and put it into play."

Angelix put another Sacred Foundry into play, tapped.

"My turn. I play a mountain," said Angelix. "Then I tap all to summon Cunning Sparkmage. End turn."

Anya had five cards in hand, and none of them were counters. That was bad. She put a Hallowed Fountain into play tapped, then tapped her Steam Vents and other Hallowed Fountain to cast:

"Lightning Helix on your Sparkmage."

It dealt three damage to Cunning Sparkmage and Anya gained three life. Then she attacked with Insectile Aberration.

Anya: 23

Angelix: 10

Angelix untapped, and when she drew, it was an Arid Mesa. She played it, tapped it and sacrificed it, losing 1 life. She put a Sacred Foundry on the field, paying two life to keep it untapped, then tapped all of her lands to play Wrath of God.

"Insectile Aberration dies," said Angelix.

Anya put away the double faced card and put the checklist card in her graveyard. Wrath of God went to Angelix's graveyard. Angelix passed the turn.

"I play an island, then tap it, another island and a Hallowed Fountain for Rule of Law, said Anya.

Angelix nodded and Anya passed the turn.

During her main phase, Angelix tapped all her lands and played "Enduring Renewal."

"That sounds interesting. Mind if I look at it really quick?"

Angelix didn't want to hand the spells from her mind to a drone that could be ordered to steal it from her. So instead she read off the card's effect.

"It's an enchantment that makes me play with my hand revealed. If I would draw a card, I reveal the top card of my library, and if it's a creature, I put it in my graveyard. Otherwise I just draw. Also, whenever a creature goes from the graveyard to the battlefield, it returns to my hand."

Angelix revealed her hand. Since she could only cast one spell each turn due to Rule of Law's effect, she ended her turn.

Anya played an Arid Mesa and ended her turn.

Meanwhile, over at the duel between Geovan and Sosuke, Sosuke seemed to be losing. Geovan was playing a blue green combo deck of some kind and had two Arbor Elves in play. What was he planning?

Geovan tapped four of his lands for Soul Foundry.

Sosuke countered with Remand.

Geovan countered the Remand with Mana Leak and two Dazes, returning an island and a Breeding Pool to his hand to replace Daze's mana cost.

Even if Sosuke paid three to stop Mana Leak's effect, he didn't have enough mana for both Daze cards as well. This Geo guy really had to know the rules really well to use priority and the stack like that!

Soul Foundry came onto the field; however, it actually appeared hovering over the table.

"Nandato!?" Sosuke exclaimed, his eyes bulging as he saw the artifact that had materialized.

"I figured it out!" Geovan shouted to Angelix across the room. "You can temporarily absorb the spell back into your mind by focusing your willpower on the card!"

Angelix played a spellbook which actually appeared on the table in front if her, then tapped three of her lands for Arc Runner.

Suddenly, a real Arc Runner appeared appeared out of nowhere, and as Angelix tapped the Arc Runner card, it went zooming at Anya and with a crash, knocked her wheelchair and half of the table all the way to the back wall. Anya had grabbed her deck just in time, but the six lands she had in play fell off the broken half-table to the floor where she couldn't reach them.

Anya: 18

Angelix: 10

"Anya!" Mr. Holmes shouted.

"Damn it!" said Willy, who had pulled out a remand from his deck but didn't cast it quick enough.

Shaking, Anya drew a card from her deck. She dropped the card, which was an Arid Mesa on the half-table in front of her. Then, miraculously, the land cards arranged themselves in the air above Anya's lap.

"Your move," she said.

Angelix summoned Arc Runner again, but Anya cast a Lightning Helix on it before it could attack her.

Anya: 21

Angelix: 10

Meanwhile, Geovan had taken advantage of Sosuke's distraction to untap and summon a token copy of his exiled Arbor Elf using Soul Foundry's effect, then attacking with one of his other two Elves.

"Rotten cheater..." Sosuke coughed after the elf had jumped over the table and jabbed him with his spear.

"This isn't a game," said Geovan.

Sosuke quickly drew and put a plains on the field before tapping two of his plains and putting an Isochron Scepter on the table and exiling Remand, only too realize that it wouldn't do anything against his opponent's very real creatures.

"That won't work," said Geovan. "Attack!" he said as he drew and played a Misty Rainforest.

The Arbor Elves jabbed Sosuke with their dulled spears, drawing blood and tearing Sosuke's clothes each time.

Sosuke: 10

Geovan: 19

Finally, Sosuke drew the top two cards from his deck, and he summoned Delver of Secrets, and it actually appeared on the field, just as the Arbor Elves brought up their spears to jab him again.

The Delver of Secrets smiled sadly at Sosuke and blocked one of the jabs for him, dying in the process

_**Tear up his card.**_

_What!?_

_**Do it! There's no other way!**_

"That was pointless!" said Geovan. "I'll just create another copy of the Elf that I exiled!"

He reached to tap his Soul Foundry card, but it wasn't there. He heard someone running across the room away from him.

"Give that back!" shouted Geovan.

"We've figured out the same thing you have!" said Willy from across the room. "On our plane, your spells are removed from your mind and contained in cards. Without the cards, you can't cast spells! Your permanents are also tied to the cards! So what do you think will happen if I do this?"

"No!" Geovan yelled desperately as Willy closed his eyes and cringed as he ripped the card in half.

"I still have three copies of that spell in my deck," Geovan growled. "That's three more times I'll be able to recall how to cast and control that artifact."

"We need to leave, Geovan!" Angelix shouted. "Whoever's controlling them is clearly aware of our presence!"

Geovan's eyes widened in shock and shame. He had forgotten their purpose for being there, and instead was just trying to beat his opponent. He probably gave whoever their enemy was knowledge of his strengths and weaknesses! In one quick movement he scooped up all of his cards, and ran over to Angelix and gripped her arm. Then the two of them disappeared along with all of their materialized permanents.

"What the hell?" asked Sosuke, trying to stand up. He swayed on his feet and started to fall, but Mr. Holmes caught him.

"He's lost quite a bit of blood," Mr. Homles, noticed anxiously.

"Those Bakemono," Sosuke coughed.

Anya quickly wheeled over, shouting, "Someone lend me an Angel's Mercy card!"

One of the event attendees for Friday Night Magic that night walked over to her and handed the needed card to her. She tried to cast it, but nothing happened.

"Here, let me try," said Willy.

_I need two colorless mana._

_**I'm not your servant.**_

_I didn't think I was implying that. Please, Astral? His life will be in danger!_

_**Don't be stupid; of course I'm going to help!**_

Together, Willy and Astral cast Angel's Mercy, which mostly healed Sosuke of his wounds.

Anya turned to Willy.

"Okay," she said. "Explain to me what the HELL is going on!"

* * *

Author's Note: Please review and send in decklists people! I can't possibly come up with all of them by myself!


	5. Don't Forget to Have Fun!

Author's Note: Sorry for being so impatient last chapter, I didn't realize that it had only been a week after I started writing the story. A lot has happened in the past couple weeks, and I thought it was a lot longer and got impatient, and I apologize. I still would really like help with decklists, but you don't have to. It might become more necessary later to have a bunch of extra decklists, but right now I'm fairly sure I'll be able to manage without submissions.

Now onto the story!

**Chapter V**

"Okay," said Anya. "Explain to me what the HELL is going on!"

"Not here," said Willy. There was an outbreak of angry muttering at this.

"I think we all deserve an explanation, after what just happened," said Anya.

"Fine!" said Willy, before speaking rapidly, "That lady who attacked us is a planeswalker. She killed my friend's mother at the graduation party he was hosting, then the voice of an ancient planeswalker started speaking in my head. He helped me stop the other planeswalker from killing everyone and helped me bring my friend's mother back to life. Then he told me that I need to help recover the memory and security enchantments that she undid or stole or something, because we need them to keep our plane protected from invaders!"

"What?" asked Anya, only having heard a bit of that super-fast and long-winded speech, but shocked by what she did think she heard nonetheless.

"Well of course she's a planeswalker if she could cast actual Magic: the Gathering spells and teleport away!" said Sosuke, incredulously. "I can't believe this is happening! Actual magic and actual planeswalkers!"

He slumped in his chair and put his head in his hands.

"Let's not speak of this outside of here," Mr. Holmes said to the room at large.

"Are you kidding me?" said one of the event goers, leaving his table and heading for the door. "They'd think I was nuts!"

"I probably am nuts," said another one, getting up too.

"This is just a bad dream," said another one, also leaving his table and heading for the door.

"Don't worry, you'll wake up soon," his friend joked, following him.

"Shut up."

The bell rang many times as the majority of the gamers in the Dragon's keep left the shop for good.

There were only six of them left besides the shopkeeper, and three of them were Willy, Anya, and Sosuke.

"My customers!" said Mr. Holmes. He looked like he was about to cry.

"That Angelica person probably has a reason for coming here," said Anya. "I'm guessing she's likely to come back. If and when she does, anyone in the building will be in danger."

"But I can't just close shop!" said Mr. Holmes. "How're we gonna pay the bills?"

"You'll have to charge extra for your customers at the bar downstairs," said Anya. "And probably the game shop too."

"And if we can't afford the extra money?" asked one of the three people Willy didn't know, an obese middle-aged man.

"If it comes to that, perhaps we can permit haggling. However, we'll have fewer customers, because they need to all be people who we can trust and who will be willing to come here in spite of the danger. Sound okay to you, uncle?"

"I suppose. We'll be shorter on money, so we'll have to adjust. I guess there aren't any other options. For now, the Dragon's Keep is closed to the general public."

* * *

There was a knock on Willy's bedroom door.

"What is it?" he asked.

His twin sister Elisa walked in.

"How was magic tonight?"

"Fine," said Willy.

"You've seemed quieter lately. Is something wrong?"

"No."

She waited, but Willy didn't say anything. This conversation was probably also going to happen with his older sister Aria, who was more perceptive of Willy's troubles, and he was putting most of his efforts into keeping the truth from her. Enough people knew already. If the truth reached too many people, it would hit the Internet and there would be mass panic. Some people might already be writing in their private journals and diaries about it...

"Come on, something's on your mind," she said. "You can tell me."

"No, I can't," said Willy.

"Why not?"

"That would be telling you."

"Well, could you tell me eventually?" she asked.

"Maybe," said Willy, although he didn't think it was very likely.

She left the room, closing the door behind her to give Willy the privacy he preferred when he was about to go to sleep.

* * *

It hadn't even been an entire month, and yet so much had changed. Magic was real now. Willy had the voice of an ancient planeswalker in his head. He now had to find and recover a bunch of lost enchantments, if that was even possible, and defend his world from extraplanar invaders.

It was the night of July 4th, Independance Day for the United States of America. In the town of Creekside, the fireworks were due to start in two hours. At this time there were multiple carts selling food and merchandise scattered around the Creekside Public school grounds. Willy, his sister Elisa and his friend Jen were currently exploring this area, looking at the carts as they tried to find the Mental Magic tournament. Of course Willy had also brought his real deck just in case of an emergency.

"Ooh," said Jen, noticing a rack of very pretty bracelets that glowed in red, white and blue.

"It's a good luck charm," said the merchant. "It's said that if both you and someone you care about wear it on the same Fourth of July, you will both be fortunate in your endeavors and prosperous in your relationships!"

_**If that was actually true, I would destroy this plane myself, rather than trying to protect it.**_

_Seconded._

Willy glanced at all the empty spaces on the rack that presumably used to hold more of those bracelets.

_Doesn't stop people from believing it's true._

Jen and Elisa continued browsing as Willy followed closely behind.

_**How many people actually believed in magic or magical phenomena before they actually existed on this plane?**_

_You have no idea..._

_**Hmm, maybe I should reevaluate whether there actually would be mass panic if magic was discovered.**_

_You really shouldn't. Many of the same people who so strongly believe in magical and supernatural phenomenon would probably freak out if they saw real magic._

_**There are a lot of strange and stupid people out there.**_

_Yeah._

Elisa and Jen were still browsing.

"Guys," said Willy impatiently. "We still need to figure out where the Mental Magic tournament is."

"We already got directions, you must not have been paying attention," said Elisa. "Don't worry, there are still a few minutes left.

"Where is it?"

"In the cafeteria, it's not that hard to find."

"Okay, I'm going there now. See you!"

Willy ran into the building, turned right into the hall and…

BAM!

"Sorry!" said Willy as he picked himself up off the floor.

"Hi Willy!" said a really thin, blonde haired boy he had bumped into. Willy did a double-take. Who was tha—oh.

"Kai!? Is that you?"

"Course it's me! Who else did you think it was?"

"I don't know, I didn't recognize you for a moment."

"I keep getting that from people," said Kai, sounding slightly annoyed. "My mom found my hair-dye and threw it away."

"I forgot that blonde was your natural hair color," said Willy, stifling a laugh. "Not that it really matters. It's probably a bit prejudiced of me, but until now I think I would have had difficulty imagining you as a blonde."

**Probably **_**a bit prejudiced? Of course not, all blondes are alike.**_

Willy couldn't tell if Astral was making a sarcastic joke or just being sarcastic for some other reason. It didn't matter though as Willy and Kai began walking in the same direction.

"So what are you doing here?" asked Willy.

"I'm on an internship with Wizards. I'm trying to gather information about casual magic events."

"And why's that?"

"I don't know, and I wouldn't be allowed to tell you if I did," said Kai.

"Are we going to have more competitive formats?" asked Willy.

"My lips are sealed," said Kai, miming zipping his mouth shut and throwing away the key.

"You know in some contexts, like this one, silence can be taken as assent?" asked Willy.

"Willy, I can't tell you anything! Do you want me to lose my job!?"

"No, I was just messing with you, I knew you wouldn't tell me anything," said Willy. And you said it was an internship. You didn't say it was a job."

Willy was a bit jealous. Paid internships weren't very common, and they were highly sought after. He had accidentally misspoken, of course. He knew that internships and jobs weren't mutually exclusive.

"Whatever, same difference," said Kai. "Oh, I almost forgot. During the event, don't mention that I'm working for Wizards."

"Why not?" asked Willy.

"Because if they knew I was working for Wizards—"

And then Willy remembered what he had learned when he had first had his new team member orientation at the Creekside Science Center, and answered his own question aloud, cutting off Kai.

"Oh, I remember! Because then they'd start asking you a ton of questions, possibly putting you on the spot, and people would react differently to you both in and out of games, and since you're trying to have the experience of a casual event from the consumer's perspective, that would be a bad thing."

Kai closed his mouth.

"Sorry, I answered my own question," said Willy. Kai shook his head.

"From the sound of it, you must be a Wizards of the Coast employee," someone said loudly from right behind Kai, making him jump with a barely audible yelp.

Both Willy and Kai turned around to see a man wearing a white shirt and black pants, a long black cape and a scary skull mask, and leaning on a black cane with a thick golden stripe around the middle of it. He looked like he was wearing a Halloween costume, but he somehow still seemed intimidating towering over them at about seven feet tall and with a deep booming voice.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I just couldn't help overhearing your conversation," the creepy masked man said.

Then his eyes widened as he turned to Willy and asked, "Have we met before?"

"I don't think so," said Willy who was now getting freaked out.

_**This man seems familiar to me…I wonder why…**_

"You mean you've forgotten me?" the way the man's eyes were staring over Willy's shoulder gave him the impression that it wasn't him that the man was talking to.

Kai was now really freaking out, but Willy was starting to get an inkling of what was going on. This man wasn't what he seemed…

The man in question looked at the time on his silver wristwatch and said in a very business-like tone, "Well that was fun. We'd better hurry now if we want to be on time."

The masked man hurried ahead of them, his cape billowing behind him dramatically, and Willy began following at a distance while Kai just stood there, staring after them, more than a little creeped out.

"Come on Kai!" said Willy.

"Huh?" asked Kai.

"The magic event! Don't tell me you've forgotten!"

"Oh yeah, that's right!" and Kai hurried to catch up with Willy.

"I still have a hard time believing that you fell for such a cheap prank," said Willy.

"What are you talking about?" asked Kai.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you didn't see his costume! It practically—" and then Willy caught himself, and thought of something better to say. "It had the word 'gullible' written all over it, in tiny print."  
Kai processed what Willy was saying for a moment, and then smacked his own forehead."

"Of course, he was just trying to scare me."

Willy could practically hear Kai rolling his eyes.

When they got to the cafeteria where the Mental Magic tournament was being held, there were six people already there, sitting at a table, and another one standing up. It was the masked man who had startled them (read as: nearly made them wet themselves) in the hallway. He clapped his hands together and said, "Okay. Now that we're all here, I'm going to explain how things are going to work—"

"Wait a minute! _You're_ the event manager!?" asked Kai in disbelief.

"Yes," said the masked man. "I'm Mr. Black, but you can call me Arius. You can sit."  
He gestured towards the benches of the wooden lunchroom table, which Willy had already walked towards and sat down right as this was said.

"Anyways," said Arius. "This is how things are going to work. You can only play spells from the approved list in the guides I will be passing out. After receiving your guide, you will have five minutes to look over the list and try to figure out some general strategies. After that I will collect your guides, and will only hand them back for a couple of minutes between each round."

He started passing out thick paper booklets with pages of the Gatherer in them.

Almost instantaneously upon receiving their booklets several of the other event participants started muttering. A couple of them even started complaining loudly.

"Oh come on! Are we seriously using _those_ two sets!?" asked one boy, folding his arms.

"I'm not playing against chicken tokens. I'm just not," said his brother, holding his head in his hands.

"B.F.M. Big Furry Monster. Its card type is 'the Biggest, Baddest, Nastiest Scariest Creature you will ever see'. This is a joke!" the girl who said that, who looked like she was about ten or eleven years old laughed loudly.

Willy finally received his booklet. It was brown and had three golden question marks inscribed on it with the words, "Mental Magic: the Un-Official Tournament Guide" glittering underneath. He opened the booklet to find pictures of cards. All of them were from either the Unhinged or Unglued Magic: the Gathering sets. Willy laughed and began to look through the booklet trying to find both cards worth memorizing and cards that would be easy to remember, or ones he already knew.

_**I'm starting to have doubts that this activity will be useful in any way whatsoever.**_

_You're trying to test how well I think on my feet, remember?_

Astral had no arguments to that, but he was still skeptical.

Willy grinned, letting himself forget for a little while the shocking events of the past month.

This was going to be fun.

* * *

I do hope this isn't seeming too much like Yugioh to you, because it's very different. I would say the similarities between this story and yugioh zexal are mostly superficial. Also, has anyone noticed how people playing duel monsters in the yugioh anime are almost always standing when they're playing? I mean, why is that? Why are they constantly standing? (unless they're on motorcycles). I wish television would have more disabled characters, rather than acting like they don't exist.

Also, just a heads up in case I start getting horribly flamed, Anya is the leader of the main trio in this story, even though she is not the main protagonist.


	6. Whisked away to Dominaria!

**Chapter VI: Disaster or Opportunity? Whisked away to Dominaria!**

All of the participants at the table introduced themselves, divided into two groups of four, rolled dice to decide turn order, shuffled their decks, drew their opening hands and began to play.

**Everyone: 20 each**

Willy played a card from his hand facedown as a land and ended his turn.

Kai played a card from his hand facedown as a land and tapped it and put a card that costed one mana on the field.

"Volrath's Motion Sensor," he declared. "When it comes into play, I choose target hand controlled by an opponent. I'm enchanting your hand, Willy. Now you have to balance this card on the back of your hand. If it falls you lose three life."

"You mean when it falls," said the girl who had laughed at the B.F.M. last chapter, Lisa.

Willy took the card and tried to balance it on his hand vertically, but since he knew it would fall, he flicked his hand up, sending the card up into the air while he quickly tapped a land and played "Sex Appeal" right as the Motion Sensor landed in his lap. The damage was prevented, and Willy put his own card in his graveyard and returned Kai's card.

Then Lisa played a land and tapped it to play "Stop That", making Willy discard a card from his hand.

The fourth player, Jon, played a card from his hand as a land and passed his turn.

Willy also played a land and tapped both his lands to cast "Cardpecker."

Jon tapped his only land and played "Duh".

"Destroy target creature with reminder text."

Cardpecker went to Willy's graveyard, and Willy looked around at the other players with his best poker face, but considering the effect of Cardpecker, it was obvious what he was really trying to do. But not to Kai, who touched the table as he untapped his lands.

"Gotcha!" said Willy, bringing the card he had cast as Cardpecker back to his hand. Then he looked at it and remembered the rules.

"Dang it! I forgot..."

In Mental Magic, cards did not have names when not on the battlefield. So Willy put the Elite Vanguard back in his grave.

After Willy said goodbye to Kai and left the cafeteria, Astral decided to give his professional opinion about the Mental Magic event.

_**Well, that was useful. I've never heard of any of those spells. I'm sure if the going gets rough, you could cast **_**"Ultimate Nightmare of Wizards of the Coast Customer Service"! **_**Casting a Comet Storm is clearly a mere rip-off of that.**_

_I take it you didn't like the un-sets?_

_**No. I did not.**_

_It was still fun, though._

_**While I'm glad you had a good time, don't forget that you have an important responsibility. You need to train to prepare for the likely attack on the Dragon's Keep tomorrow. You should go first thing in the morning.**_

Willy had reached the double doors out to where he had first entered the building from. He pushed open the door and started to walk across the grass. All of the cart vendors were closing now.

_How do we even know that that's where the invaders will strike next? Anya sounded like she was fairly sure of it, too..._

Astral seemed surprised.

_**It's actually a simple matter of logic. Regardless of what their goals are, there are three mages who go to the Dragon's Keep, three mages with a powerful library of spells at their command. Perhaps you, Anya and Sosuke are a threat or obstruction to their plans, as some of the few mages on this plane whose powers have been awakened. We don't know how many other mages have awakened; for all we know, it's possible that you three are the only awakened mages for many miles around!**_

_And Anya said that they probably had a reason for coming to the Dragon's Keep. I wonder why they went to the Dragon's Keep, anyway? It's not like they had any way of predicting that there would be three mages there._

_**It's possible our enemies have gone to more than one game shop. I can imagine that seeing spells from throughout the multiverse in card form is very strange to outsiders of this plane. Also, now that I think of it...**_

Astral paused for a moment.

_**The timing of when our enemies fled and what they said when they did might be significant. It was as soon as both Anya's and Sosuke's powers awoke. That foolish planeswalker had said to her accomplice that they needed to leave because-**_

_Oh yeah! "Because whoever's controlling those drones is aware of our presence."_

_So then why the heck they are so insistent that we're drones? Do you think I'll have the chance to ask that when I'm at the Dragon's Keep tomorrow?_

_**Well, we don't know for sure that that's where our enemies will strike next, but the Dragon's Keep is a bit more likely than any other location. In any case, you still haven't had your first actual mage's battle yet. I suggest finding a way to get some spellcasting practice in tonight.**_

* * *

The next morning, Willy got up and dressed early, grabbed his backpack and deck and wrote a note to say where he was going and put it on the fridge. He went into the garage and got out his bike, closed the garage door and cycled all the way to the nearest bus stop on the corner of Hamming Drive and Third Street and waited a few minutes. The bus pulled up to the sidewalk and Willy picked up his bike and rolled it up the ramp of the bus, and placed it on the bike rack and sat down nearby in a second-row seat.

Willy got out his phone and started to pass the time reading an online novel.

After twenty minutes had passed, no one else had gotten on the bus, and for some reason the bus had not yet stopped.

_The Dragon's Keep isn't _that _far away...maybe it's morning traffic._

_**I don't think so. We've been tricked.**_

_What?_

_**Look out the window.**_

Willy did. It was like looking back in time a hundred years. The streetlamps were all lit by gas rather than electricity, the roads were made of brick rather than asphalt, and instead of real cars, there were carriages, sometimes horse-drawn, and sometimes moving with no apparent force pulling them along. Stylistically, many of these carriages were a lot more decorated and personalized then the ones of twentieth century America, but they still were unmistakably carriages.

Willy blinked. What the heck was going on?

Sentients of many different species that Willy had never seen before stared at the bus as it passed, having never seen such a strange and large vehicle. Many of them also stared at the pipe at the back of it in disgust, noticing the liquid debris that was pouring out of it. Someone was going to have to get rid of that.

Willy stood up.

"Excuse me?" he asked. "Where are we?"

"Academy Town. It is a settlement for visitors and Alumni of the Academy at Tolaria West.

"Tolaria West-wait, what!?"

"Are you feeling better now?" asked the driver. "Your body was being used as a drone on a really messed up plane. Now that you are away from that dreadful place, your spirit has been restored to your body, and you are now in control of yourself again."

Willy started to panic.

"You've got it all wrong! I have to go back!"

"What's this? Your spirit has returned, but your mind has not yet been recovered?"

"What!? You don't know what you're talking about!" Willy was starting to guess what was going on here. "I bet that idiot planeswalker jumped to conclusions, and whoever she's working with _believes _her! She must have removed all those enchantments thinking she was freeing us, but she's wrong! She's put my entire home-plane in danger! I have to go back!" And then in a whimper, "I was going to start college in less than three months."

_**Willy! Calm down!**_

But it was too late. This was one of those times where the emotional stress in his life became too much for him to deal with calmly or logically. Willy started to cry.

"There's only one planeswalker currently in the area," said the driver. "And I assure you that even if she did start jumping to erroneous conclusions about the plane you were in, such an error would have been quickly corrected. She is a professor of the _Academy at Tolaria West_, after all."

Willy continued to cry, even as he was forcibly removed from the bus, with his hands tied behind his back and his mouth temporarily sealed shut by someone to his left casting a silence spell on him. If he was in any fit state to, he might have admired the beautiful slightly hilly lawns and the sea surrounding the island they were on, shining from the morning sunlight, and the magnificent white brick almost castle-like building before him. But he obviously wasn't in a state to admire them, and all he noticed was how helpless he was, unable to move or even speak as he was literally carried by a controlled but powerful gust of wind to a quarantine cell. Only after he had been set down on one of the two beds in the room, released from the force that was restraining him, and locked alone inside the cell, did his lips finally unseal, and Willy screamed.

Willy's thoughts were fast and only partially comprehensible, and Astral caught snippets here and there.

_**Calm down Willy! We WILL make it out of here!**_

Astral said it with such force that it caused Willy to pause in his hyperventilating.

_**I already came up with a plan, but it depends entirely on your ability to lie effectively. From the looks of it, we've been confined to an isolated room so you can recover from your supposed brainwashing. If you want to get out of this room, you need to act like you've recovered from said brainwashing. After that, we need to find the memory enchantment that that foolish planeswalker stole and get back to your plane.**_

_And how would we get back?_

_**Considering that I am recorded in enchantments cast over your plane, I obviously have a connection to your plane. It's possible that when we have the memory enchantment, I will learn how to utilize that connection to return us there from anywhere in the multiverse.**_

_And if you're wrong?_

_**Then we'll have to keep them convinced of your "transformation" while we try to find another way back. Another possible strategy would be to create a body for me, but away from your plane that would take at the very least a decade of magical education to learn how to do that. I don't know if that would even work, since I don't yet know the full nature of the connection between our minds that was created when you awakened me, nor do I know the full nature of my own mind.**_

Willy heard a reminder go off on his cell phone, and pulled it out of his pocket, surprised to see that it was still working. He did notice that there was no internet or phone connection, though. He turned it on silent. He depended on his cell-phone. He wouldn't let it be taken from him.

* * *

They didn't see it coming. Anya was captured in her sleep, and Sosuke was captured on the way to the Dragon's Keep. Anya panicked when she realized what was going on, and she almost decided to confront the driver. However, at the last moment she managed to restrain herself from such recklessness.

However, what she didn't realize was that by not saying anything at all, it made the driver think she was still a drone.

Anya was sitting in a passenger seat without her wheelchair, so she couldn't move. The bus driver humiliated her by carrying her off the bus.

"Let me go!" Anya didn't know what she would do if she succeeded in making the driver let her go, but she didn't know where she was being taken. She had been kidnapped in her sleep, and like anyone in that situation, was frightened.

She punched the driver, who yelped in pain and dropped Anya. When the Driver tried to pick her up again, Anya used her hands to quickly roll over and headbutt him, then punched him again, this time in the groin, as the headbutt to the ankle had made him start to fall forward.

A couple of other people ran out of the building, and one of them cast a pacifism on her. Without completely understanding why, she started to calm down even in her panicked state. She was carried into the building and put into the same stone, basement room as Willy.

Sosuke soon followed, although instead of a pacifism, he had a small pillow attached to his forehead, although there was nothing visible keeping it on. It looked ridiculous.

In the ludicrousness of the situation, Willy failed to repress a giggle, and Sosuke glared at him.

They sat in silence for a while, until there was a click, and the door to the cell opened.

In walked the lady who had driven the bus Willy rode in. She was wearing a very different outfit to what she had been wearing earlier. Instead of the uniform of the public transportation company whose bus she had stolen, she was now wearing white (except for a few stains here and there) robes. She also had small white-feathered wings attached to her shoulder blades, and a small barely noticeable tattoo of a scroll in a circle just at the base of her neck. It wouldn't have been seen if her shirt neck was C-shaped instead of V.

"I am Professor Lisenna Harte," she introduced herself. "And I am the Head Healer of the Academy at Tolaria West."

"It's nice to meet you," said Willy. Sosuke looked at him incredulously. Anya just looked at him with a calm expression on her face before looking back at Prof. Harte, curiously.

"Do you know why you're here?" the Healer asked.

"I think so," said Willy. "We've been rescued from a warped version of our home plane. Right?"

"Do you remember anything from when your body was trapped there?"

"Not much. I remember flashes of the time my body was under someone's control. Other than that, I vividly remember what the plane was like before the Disturbance."

"Disturbance? Could you describe it?"

Willy pretended to be struggling to remember an event that never happened.

"It's on the tip of my head," Willy said. "I-I find myself closing in on the answer, but it just slips out of my reach."

The healer smiled.

"Would you say your mind has recovered completely?"

Willy thought for a moment.

"I'm not sure," he said, convincingly worried. "But I think that I've been isolated for a very long time. Maybe some social contact would do me some good. I think the same thing goes for my friends."

The healer looked satisfied.

"Well, I scanned your Aura and your friends' Auras, and it seems to support your statements of your current mental and spiritual health. I will go inform the headmaster."

Professor Harte waved her hand to remove the pacifism that was enchanting Anya, and left the room leaving the door unlocked.

Willy sighed. He had been tense during all that improvisation, knowing that his life and his friends' lives probably depended on it.

Willy didn't know if there was any form of surveillance in the room, so he dared not speak of Astral's plan aloud, and could only hope that Anya and Sosuke caught on quickly, and that their back-stories were consistent. But then he thought of another way.

"Remember when we all first met?" Willy asked. "In our twelfth year of school, remember? Damn, that seems like so long ago, now."

Realization dawned on Anya's face. Sosuke just looked clueless. But before he could express his confusion, Anya said, "Yeah, I remember that! We all met over a game of cards. Just a silly game of Go-Fish."

"And I kept saying that I wanted to play something else, but no one was listening to me," said Willy.

Sosuke finally caught on to what he was supposed to do. "I remember that! I ended up getting sick of playing Go-Fish. I was only playing because I was roped into it by a friend."

"And I kept trying to get everyone to compromise by playing another game afterwards," said Anya. "It didn't really work, though."

The three of them were smiling at their imagined first meeting. It wasn't what really happened, but no one else had to know.

The door to the room opened, and Professor Harte stepped in.

"The Headmaster would like to see you now," she said. "Follow me."

* * *

Author's Note: I'm planning to change the title of this story to "Tales of Solai: the Isochron Trio". I also plan for two companion pieces to begin being posted in the near future. Their tentative titles are, "Tales of Solai: Nature's Guardians" and "Tales of Solai: the Power of Life". I've already started writing the first chapter of "Nature's Guardians", and I think I've succeeded in enlisting the help of one or two friends with "Power of Life".

Also, feedback is always greatly appreciated. Don't forget to review!


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